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Screening for Readiness

Learn how to screen candidates using the Screening for Readiness assessment - from starting the screening to scoring candidates and acting on the results.

Written by Pernilla Ahl

What is Screening for Readiness?

Screening for Readiness is an assessment method where you review candidates' profile information and score how well they match the criteria you've defined for the role. All candidate information is presented in a standardised, anonymised format - without names, photos, or email addresses - so you can focus on what matters: how well the candidate's background matches your requirements.

Before you can screen

Before you can start screening a candidate, their profile information needs to be available in Alva.

When a candidate applies through an Alva-hosted career page or a career site with the Alva Job list widget, Alva automatically creates a standardised version of their CV. Design elements, photos, and formatting are stripped away so the screening view focuses on what matters: experience, education, skills, and background. The candidate reviews and confirms their profile as part of the application process, so by the time they appear in your pipeline, they're ready to be screened.

Starting a screening

When candidates are ready to be screened, you'll see an indicator showing how many candidates are available.

If you haven't added Screening for Readiness to your assessment plan yet, click Assessment plan in the top right corner of the Stages view - from there you can add it directly by clicking + Add assessment under the relevant stage, or see Design Assessment Plan for a full guide on setting up your assessment plan from scratch.

To start screening:

  • Click Start screening in the Screening for Readiness stage to begin screening all available candidates

  • Right-click on a single candidate and select Start screening

    to screen them individually

When screening multiple candidates, you'll move through them one by one. After assigning a score, you'll automatically be presented with the next candidate. You can also use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom to navigate between candidates, or stop at any point and pick up where you left off.

To change a previous score, right-click on the candidate and select
​Start screening again. This reopens the screening view so you can update the score. Note that scores can't be deleted, but they can be changed at any time.

💡 Note: Screening multiple candidates in one session makes it easier to calibrate your scoring and compare candidates fairly.

The screening view

When you open the screening view, you'll see a side-by-side comparison:

Left side - About the role:

  • The role's location, language requirements, and remote status

  • Background and experience criteria you've defined

  • The job description for quick reference

Right side - About the candidate:

  • The candidate's location, languages, and remote status, with green checkmarks showing where they match the role requirements

  • Background tags indicating whether the candidate meets each requirement

  • Their work experience history

You can switch between three views using the tabs at the top: Both (side-by-side), Role (role details only), or Candidate (candidate profile only).

Candidate profile icons

In the top right corner of the candidate side, you'll see four icons:

  • Person with magnifying glass - Hover over this to reveal the candidate's name. The screening view is anonymised by default, but you can use this if you need to identify the candidate.

  • Document icon - Opens the candidate's original CV file.

  • LinkedIn icon - Opens the candidate's LinkedIn profile in a new tab, so you can view their full professional background.

  • Warning triangle - Indicates that the candidate has not yet reviewed and confirmed that their extracted CV details are correct. This happens when candidates apply through a non-Alva career page or when you manually upload a candidate with a CV - since they don't go through the standard application flow, they haven't had the chance to verify their profile.

To let the candidate review their profile, you can either:

  • Right-click on the candidate and select Send invite to complete profile - this must be done while the candidate is in the stage where Screening for Readiness has been added

  • Set up an automation to send the invitation automatically - see Automations in Alva's Hiring System for how to configure this

Match indicators

When reviewing a candidate's background criteria, Alva uses AI to assess how well each requirement matches the candidate's profile. Each criterion is tagged with one of three match levels:

Indicator

Icon

What it means

Requirement match

✅

The candidate's experience clearly matches the requirement. Click the tag to see the specific experience that triggered the match.

Partial match

❓

The candidate has some related experience, but it doesn't fully meet the requirement. Click the tag to see what was found and judge for yourself.

Match not found

🚫

No matching experience was found in the candidate's profile for this requirement.

Click on any criterion tag to expand the details - you'll see the AI's reasoning and, for matches and partial matches, the specific experience from the candidate's profile that was used. Each expanded view also includes a "Was this accurate?" prompt where you can give feedback to help improve match quality over time.

Alva uses AI to analyse each candidate's profile against your role requirements and highlight how well their experience aligns with each criterion. Match highlights are based solely on the criteria you've defined - the AI won't make assumptions or factor in information that isn't relevant to the job requirements. Use these highlights to anchor your score in evidence rather than a general impression.

Scoring candidates

At the bottom of the screening view, you'll see the question: “How relevant is this candidate?”. Assign a score from 1 to 5, or mark as “Not relevant”, based on how well the candidate matches your role requirements. Focus on the criteria that are truly essential for the role.

Score

Label

Role-fit estimate

Not relevant

—

0%

1

Very low relevancy

2%

2

Low

16%

3

Relevant

60%

4

High

92%

5

Very high relevancy

99%

💡Note: If multiple people on your team are screening, align beforehand on what a “3” versus a “5” looks like for this specific role. This ensures consistent evaluation across the hiring team.

Editing the Screening for Readiness assessment

If you want to add or remove criteria from your Screening for Readiness assessment after the initial setup, you can do so directly from the Stages view.

How to edit the assessment

  1. In the top right corner of the Stages view, click Assessment plan

  2. Click the three dots (⋯) on the Screening for Readiness assessment

  3. Select Edit assessment

You'll see the criteria currently included in the assessment highlighted in yellow. Below them, under "Not added to this assessment", you'll find any criteria that were defined for the role but aren't yet part of the screening. To add a criterion, simply click on it - it will be added to the assessment immediately.

When you're done, click Save.

After scoring

Once you've scored your candidates, you'll see a summary of the results. Screening scores are automatically combined with candidates' psychometric test results to help you decide which candidates to prioritise moving forward.

From the summary view, you can also reject candidates marked as "Not relevant" directly.

Any Questions?

Use the chat in the bottom right corner to connect with a member of our support team.

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